Harrowed Halls

Savage Worlds Pirates of the Spanish Main Episode V

Ben as the GM: a wacky engineer who goes on and on about gorse and heather.
Evil Mike as Buck U Charlie: dual knife wielding maniac.
Owen as Nicholas Hawksworth: a lover, not a fighter.
Mike Byrd as Thomas Longshot: a branded former pirate who sleeps with his musket.
Steve (me) as Duncan Crain: a schizophrenic who makes poor decisions and great dice rolls.
Steve (also me) as Desmond Crain: the imaginary brother of Duncan.

It was a dark and stormy night in England. Fortunately we were in Port Royal. The weather there was sunny and beautiful. We were sipping brandy with Robert Rook at the fencing academy when he asked if we would rescue his son from pirates. It was hard to tell if his son had gone voluntarily with the pirates or if he had been shanghaied. Either way, Robert Rook thought it was scandalous. And for the sum of $8000 we said we’d bring the kid back either way.

We also found out the whereabouts of Sir Jacob Hamilton, who we had been hunting. He was attending the carnival at Port au Prince in two weeks hence. We decided to rescue the Rook boy first, and then head to Port au Prince. That is until we saw just how slow our ship was. We headed to Port au Prince instead, but not before hiring two salty sea dogs and a pilot as crew for our ship.

Once on the water our pilot promptly got us lost. We recovered though and made it in time for carnival. Nicholas and Desmond tried to one up each other as to who had the fancier carnival mask. We wandered the town and found the inn where Sir Hamilton was thought to be. We found him on the second floor balcony—a balcony being guarded by two, large men with even larger swords. As we were figuring out how to get onto the balcony, Capt Winnie made an appearance and tried to hook up again with Nicholas. Nicholas spurned her advances, already having a pretty bar maid on his arm. Thomas tried to shoot her, and Duncan tried to make his own advances towards the beautiful captain. Of the three, Duncan critically failed causing Winnie’s reply to be short and violent. (Apparently his French was not as good as he thought.) Winnie drew her pistol and blew the feathers off of Duncan’s mask. She was aiming for Duncan’s head. Two men then grabbed Duncan. (Desmond was no help.) Buck’s knives immediately leaped fatally into both men. It was then we heard the town guard approaching from downstairs…and everyone moved away from us.

Nicholas, with the pretty bar maid on his arm, quickly bluffed his way onto the balcony containing Sir Hamilton. And just as quickly was attacked by Jimmie Tim. Nicholas, sparing no time at all, leaped off the balcony and climbed down the trusses. Jimmie Tim and Sir Hamilton, seeing the town guard approaching, also made a hasty retreat off the balcony. They used a grappling hook and a rope.

Those big guards weren’t letting anyone else onto the balcony, so while Desmond distracted them, Duncan used his acrobatics to leap between them landing expertly on the balcony. He hastened to follow after Jimmy Tim and Sir Hamilton. Before leaping the balcony wall, Duncan paused just long enough to kiss Nicholas’s pretty bar maid. Then he was over the side and sliding down the rope…colliding with Sir Hamilton and knocking everyone to the ground.

Buck and Thomas were having their own problems getting by the guards. Thomas then had an idea that did not involve shooting his big gun. It did involve the big gun, but not shooting it. Thomas, using his big gun, intimidated the guards. They left with their giant swords between their legs. (At least I think it was their giant swords.) Buck and Thomas fled onto the balcony just as the town guard reached the second floor. Apparently the other patrons where all pointing at the escaping Buck and Thomas. Thomas fell under a heavy volley of gun fire. His near dead body was drug away to the dungeon infirmary where he would be tended to, tried for who-knows-what, and then hung.

Jimmy Tim was knocked unconscious from the fall. (He broke our fall perfectly.) We left him laying there, escorting Sir Hamilton to the docks. During the walk, Sir Hamilton spilled his guts about the treasure ship. Each of the survivors had a watch engraved; each with a part of the secret to where the ship lay. Sir Hamilton gave us his watch…for 5% of the treasure.

The next evening Nicholas and Duncan were invited to have dinner upon Capt. Winnie’s ship. It was then we discovered that she too was looking for the treasure AND had the watch that belonged to Elizabeth’s father. We decided to sell her our watch for $40,000. She would have to travel to England and back to get the money. In the meantime, we’d still look for the treasure, and for some reason, split it with her 70/40. I’m probably wrong about that whole affair. Nicholas did most of the negotiating. I was sampling the wine. As we left the boat, Winnie asked if Nicholas would like to stay on board a little long. He did. During this time Buck was doing something. I have it written in my notes. It says “Buck goes snopping out.” What the heck does that mean?

Chaos Steve